Kurihara, who won national honors with a sixth-round stoppage of Shori Umezu in June, is looking forward to his maiden defense.

"I've prepared thoroughly for this fight, so I'm confident," Kurihara (21-9-1, 18 KOs) told The Ring.

"He's fast and mentally strong. I'll be weary of his left hand from long distance. I don't think he's that good at in-fighting, so will look to use that to my advantage."

Fuse, who was held to a 10-round split draw with Umezu on February 7, is a southpaw. Kurihara has struggled against them in his career, though holds a 3-2 record against the style.

"It's definitely different," he said. "Until now, I didn't understand well how to fight southpaws and felt like I had trouble with them. But in preparing for this, my understanding has improved and I don't feel at a disadvantage anymore."

The 33-year-old power-puncher often either knocks his opponent out, or gets stopped himself. Either way, he's always an entertaining watch.

"I am always focused on the knockout," he said. "I like to mix it up, so I think that's why I fight this way."

Naturally, he hopes victory will lead to something even bigger in the new year.

"Of course, my goal is to become a world champion," he said. "I don't know yet whether I will be in the running for a world title shot next, so I will just go forward to win, taking each fight one at a time.

Though he does have a particular opponent he'd like to face.

"Since I lost to Takuma Inoue before, I want to challenge him and get revenge," he said.

Inoue retained his WBC bantamweight crown with a repeat win over Tenshin Nasukawa on September 26.

The 118-pound titleholder comfortably led on all three scorecards before his bout with Kurihara was stopped in the ninth round, after Kurihara sustained a cut from an accidental head clash.

Fuse (17-4-1, 4 KOs) meanwhile, turned professional in January 2017. He won his first eight contests before tasting defeat against Toshiya Ishii (TD 5) in August 2019.

Since then, the 28-year-old fell short over 10 rounds against Sam Goodman up at junior featherweight. He suffered two stoppage defeats by Riku Masuda, though is unbeaten in four and will bid to regain his old national title.